The Italians supposedly had Canadair firefighting planes on standby near the Slovenian borders, but they remained grounded instead of helping to extinguish fires in the Kras region, like the Croatian planes, for example. Why did the Minister of Foreign Affairs Tanja Fajon not contact the Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and ask for his help? We sent our questions about the situation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
We sent the following questions to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
“1. Did the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have any information about the Italian firefighting aircraft, which were on standby in the near vicinity of the border with Slovenia and could have easily intervened in Slovenia?
2. Did the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Minister Tanja Fajon personally contact the Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio regarding the request for assistance with these aircraft?
3. If not, why did she not take this step?
Thank you very much in advance.”
The Ministry responded to our very specific questions in an extremely laconic, bureaucratic manner, writing:
“Slovenia requested assistance in fighting the major fire in the Kras region through the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism. The countries that responded to Slovenia’s request were Croatia, which helped with a Canadair helicopter and a firefighting unit with a tanker; Slovakia, which contributed a manned helicopter and a large water tanker; Austria with one helicopter; Romania with two Spartan aircraft and a Hercules transport aircraft for logistical support; and Serbia, as a participating country of the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism, with two manned helicopters. Italy also provided aerial firefighting assistance in the first days under a bilateral agreement on cooperation in the event of natural and other disasters, and Hungary provided two helicopters in the framework of cooperation with the Slovenian Armed Forces.
Minister Tanja Fajon thanked all the neighbouring countries, as well as Slovakia, Serbia and Romania, for all their help and support to Slovenia in tackling the fires.”
Since the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not actually answer any of our concrete questions, we persisted and sent them another e-mail, asking them to answer the specific questions, and again we got this bureaucratic masterpiece in response:
“As already stated, Slovenia has requested assistance to extinguish the massive fire in the Kras region through the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism, the EU’s main tool for joint civil protection interventions by the Member States in all types of disasters within the EU and in third countries.
The European Union Civil Protection Mechanism falls under the competencies of the Ministry of Defence and the Administration, respectively.”
It is more than obvious that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not actually want to answer the question of whether Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon asked her Italian counterpart, Lugi Di Maio, to intervene. At a time when firefighters were battling the raging fire, the Minister was enjoying herself in Dalmatia, probably following Prime Minister Golob’s doctrine of covid prevention.
Given the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar’s involvement in the Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the latest initiative to restore the Kras region together with the Italians, it is reasonable to expect that he would have called the leaders of all the neighbouring countries and then some if he was in office. It is not enough for the Minister to just thank those involved and take an Instagram photo with the helicopter pilot after the fire is over.
Andrej Žitnik
